Operation Separate-From-Bush is fully underway in the McCain campaign. First came a foreign policy speech which sounded policy notes not normally associated with the Bush administration (e.g. multi-lateralism, global warming). Then came the populism-sprinkled economic address. Yesterday it was Hurricane Katrina. McCain bluntly said “There were unqualified people in charge, there was a total misreading of the dimensions of the disaster, there was a failure of communications.”

Will all this enable McCain to escape the shadow of an unpopular president? This will be threshed out in the general election. The Democrats will paint McCain as Bush’s twin, on Iraq and taxes in particular. McCain will emphasize his many areas of disagreement with Bush ( e.g. administration of the war, torture, spending, global warming). It is an open question whether any candidate can entirely escape the drag exerted by a limping incumbent of the same party. What is certain is that this will not be the last time McCain blasts the Bush administration.